Texas Longhorns Hold the Program's First-Ever Sophomore Day

By Marian Hinton

Michael Johnson: USA TODAY Sports

Under Mack Brown, the Texas Longhorns have been one of the top recruiting programs in all of college football. Brown’s Junior Days, in which the program brings in highly recruited juniors throughout the country on official visits, became a blueprint for many other programs across the nation. Brown was certainly not the first college coach to hold Junior Days, but he was one of the best at picking up early commitments from some of the top players across the nation.

Over the last couple of years, however, Brown has fallen behind in the recruiting game, finishing with solid classes, but not the great ones he had grown accustomed to in his time in Austin. Brown himself admitted as such, and recently hired Patrick Suddes from the Alabama Crimson Tide to become the Longhorns’ first-ever director of player personnel who’s primary role is to oversee recruiting.

Additionally, this weekend, Mack further demonstrated his new recruiting philosophy by hosting the program’s first-ever Sophomore Day. Though schools across the country have done this for some time, Texas has not–yet this weekend shows that Brown has a new approach and has finally adjusted to an ever-changing recruiting process.

Over the weekend, Brown and his staff issued eight scholarship offers to some of the most elite players from the 2015 recruiting class. Among these, the Longhorns picked up their first commitment from the class as well; Aaron Garza, a 6-foot-4, 300 pound sophomore offensive lineman from Sherman High School (TX), verbally committed to play for the Horns.

While I am not a fan of offering sophomores, the fact of the matter is that this is the way the game is now played, and Mack Brown had no choice but to join in. With other programs, including out-of-state powerhouses, jumping in early and offering scholarships to younger players across the State of Texas, Brown had to either join in or risk getting left behind.